Philips Hue Lightstrip vs. Plus — What’s the Difference?

If you’re looking to light your home in a stylish, functional way, Philips Hue products are a great place to start. Offering tons of different features, Philips Hue lightstrips are wonderful examples of what smart home lighting can do for your home — and at a fair price. The only difficulty is trying to choose which lighting suits you best. This article is going to compare and contrast the differences between the Philips Hue Lightstrip vs. Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus.

But first, let’s mention the features that you can look forward to with both the Philips Hue Lightstrip and Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus. Both lightstrips offer smart control, away-from-home control, light schedules, comfort dimming, being able to choose from millions of colors, and syncing with music and movies. All of these give you way more functionality than traditional lightstrips. And with that said, what about the differences between the two?

Philips Hue Lightstrip vs. Plus — The Differences

Difference #1: Brightness & Light Quality – As you might expect of a new and improved version of any product, the Philips Hue Plus shines brighter than the original. Both lightstrips are LEDs with their brightness displayed in lumens. The regular Philips Hue Lightstrip produces about 120 lumens, which isn’t a very strong glow. This makes it a potential candidate for soft bedroom lighting or somewhere strong lighting isn’t necessary. The Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus produces up to 1600 lumens. The Plus can be used anywhere: the brightness can be customized for wherever you place it and isn’t held back by low lumen output. And, unlike the standard lightstrip, the Plus offers natural light and different shades of white that may be better on your eyes. The choice here is pretty clear — the Plus is better than the standard Philips lightstrip.

Difference #2: Length – Another major difference you might find between the two lightstrips is their length. The basic lightstrip will probably be enough to suit most customers’ needs at about 6.6 feet — at exactly 78.7 inches. This is enough to cover a large portion of a hallway or wall in a room. For most people 6.6ft is plenty, but for those with larger homes or lighting locations, the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus is definitely the choice. The Plus offers extension add-ons of 3.3ft, and can be combined to create strips up to 32ft in length. The standard Philips Hue Lightstrip does not have this extension feature.

It’s also important to mention that both lightstrips can be cut with scissors to light spaces smaller than 6.6ft. The standard Philips Hue Lightstrip has markers every 4 inches where you can cut the strip, whereas the Plus version has markers every 13 inches. The takeaway is that the standard lightstrip is definitely easier to fit smaller locations. Be sure that if you are shortening the lightstrip with scissors, only cut when the light is unplugged/off and only cut on the markers denoted on the lightstrip.

Difference #3: Energy Use – The Philips Hue Lightstrip comes in at 12 Watts and the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus at 20.5 Watts. If you’re focusing on energy consumption, the 12W lightstrip seems like the obvious choice. However, the 8W is a tradeoff in light brightness/quality output. For most basic lighting requirements, using the standard lightstrip will work as it offers a nice, soft light for just 12W. But at 20.5W, just a little under double the energy use, you get the option of having a bigger, brighter, extendable light.

Difference #4: Ambience and Setting– The standard Philips Hue Lightstrip has the ability to change its color to many different tones and hues. You can alter the color to whichever color suits your mood, or even just to serve your whims. But the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus has more than just this color changing option. The Plus lightstrip offers ‘warm’ and ‘cold’ temperatures of white light that may fit certain areas better than others. A subtle difference, but one that is definitely noticed when lighting an area frequented by friends and family.

Difference #5: Size and Dimensions – These differences are a little more minor, but they’re still important, especially for those who plan on putting the lights in more cramped spaces. The standard lightstrip has a slightly smaller width and height than the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus. Take this into account when looking around your home and considering where you’d like to fit the strips. The width and height for the standard lightstrip is 0.43″ x 0.11″ (width x height). whereas the Plus lightstrip measures 0.59″ x 0.19″. The difference really isn’t all that much, but it’s something to consider when installing under kitchen cabinets or areas of the like.

Difference #6: Additional Features – There are a few various features that the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus offers that the standard Philips Hue Lightstrip does not. One feature the Lightstrip Plus has is something called Wake-up Mode. Wake-up Mode lets you easily program the lights to turn off at a time when you go to sleep, like 10pm for example, and then turn on when you typically wake up. And, since the light offered by the Plus is also closer to natural light — a feature they call Wellbeing — it’s easier on the eyes and is not as “harsh” as the standard lightstrip provides.

Philips Hue Lightstrip vs. Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus — Bottom Line

All in all, when looking at what kind of lightstrip you want for your home, there are many different factors to consider. For general purposes where some fancy features might not be necessary — or if budget is a concern, which it very well may be, especially if you are buying more than one of these lightstrips to light large portions of your home — then the standard Philips Hue Lightstrip may end up being more than enough. It provides decent light as well as having most of the features that the Plus version has.

On the other hand, if you’re looking for a more tuned white light, brighter lumens and quality, or an extended lightstrip for a larger area, the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus is more of what you’re looking for. It’s also technically far more light efficient than the first product, as it produces far more light per watt than the standard Philips Hue Lightstrip (12W at 120Lm vs. 20.5W at 1600Lm), even if it requires more watts to operate overall.

Whichever your choice, we hope this article helped you see the differences, even if subtle, between the two products, and removed any confusion you may have had when choosing between them. Note that whichever lightstrip you choose, you’re going to need the Philips Hue Bridge in order for it to work. Another option, if having to purchase the Philips Hue Bridge turns you away from these lightstrips, is the LIFX Lightstrip. If you’d like to see the differences between the Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus and the LIFX Lightstrip, we’ve got an article titled Philips Hue Lightstrip Plus vs. LIFX Lightstrip — What’s the Difference?

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